From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Wed Mar 13, 2002  1:16 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Phil Phillips
 
PHIL PHILLIPS (By Shaun Mather)

Born John Phillip Baptiste, 14 March, 1931, Lake Charles, Louisiana

John Phillip Baptiste, better known as Phil Phillips had a hit record with
one of the first "tragedy" songs in the rock 'n' roll genre. Phillips was a
member of the Gateway Quartet and a bellhop before he recorded "Sea of
Love." The song was arranged and produced by Eddie Shuler for neighbor
George Khoury's label. The song took three months to record but when it
was ready they all knew they had a hit on their hands. It's a swamp pop
classic. The record started selling well and soon became too big for the
label who leased it to Mercury Records. "Sea of Love" went to number 2 in
the U.S. pop charts and spent 14 weeks in the top 40 and had sold over two
million copies by the end of 1959. The song was heavily covered but it was
Phillip's original version that has endured the test of time and was used in
the 1989 Al Pacino thriller of the same name. In 1985, Eddie Shuler received
the BMI award for "Sea of Love."